Defend the SFSU Ten! Antiwar Students Deliver Petition

** PRESS CONFERENCE: June 5, 2006 **
Contacts: Karen Knoller, Freshman, SFSU Ten - (818) 554-5382
Doniella Maher, SFSU Ten – (916) 801-0378

SFSU STUDENTS BEING HARASSED BY THEIR ADMINISTRATION, DENIED LEGAL REPRESENTATION
PRESS CONFERENCE PLANNED TO "DEFEND THE SFSU TEN!"

What: Press conference to deliver petition to Administration, discuss University actions against the SFSU Ten
When: Monday, June 5, 2006, 11:00 AM
Where: Corner of 19th Ave & Holloway Ave, SF, next to the Administration Building
Speakers: Nancy Mancias, Peace Campaign Cooridinator: Global Exchnage; Carlos Villarreal, National Lawyers Guild; Todd Chretien, Green Party Candidate for U.S. Senate; Sharon Adams, NLG attorney representing the SFSU Ten; Karen Knoller, one of the SFSU Ten

San Francisco State University Administration has initiated disciplinary proceedings against antiwar activists. The students, also known as the “SFSU Ten,” have received notices requesting confidential meetings with University Administration officials to investigate a complaint filed by the campus police chief regarding the protest of military recruiters on April 14th, 2006. No copy of the complaint or any of the allegations has thus far been provided to the students. According to University code, potential outcomes of these disciplinary proceedings include suspension or expulsion.

The public response to defend these students has been overwhelming. A circulating petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/sfsu10/petition.html ) has been signed by over 1200 people including Gold Star Mom Cindy Sheehan, conscientious objector Camilo Mejia, and Denis Halliday, the former UN Assistant Secretary General who resigned in protest as the UN's Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq. The students plan to present the Adminstration with this petition on Monday.

The students sought representation from the National Lawyers Guild to defend their basic constitutional due process rights by demanding that all documents related to the complaint be provided before any meetings take place and that only one joint meeting be held with all the students. Sharon Adams, the lawyer representing the students was told that the University would not cooperate with lawyers and that her letter requesting a copy of the complaint and a joint meeting between the students and the University was going to be ignored. In doing so, “the University is violating students' rights to due process” stated Sharon Adams of the National Lawyers Guild.

The April 14 protest involved a small group of students clapping and chanting inside the school gymnasium, about 25 feet from the recruiters themselves. Without any warning, a large group of police stormed in and began dragging students out physically.

Following the botched police response, the University initially barred the students from being on campus for 14 days, making several students homeless, then balked amidst public outcry, saying students could come back after just three days. The University then waited until finals week before issuing the current wave of disciplinary action. The students feel that this is an effort to divide and conquer, intimidating individual students in an attempt to silence them. They are therefore demanding a joint conference.

"The Administration wants to eliminate vocal resistance to the war by violating our right to free speech and freedom of assembly," stated Michael Hoffman, a grad student and Teaching Assistant in Mathematics, "and given the fact that US Marines are committing war crimes in Iraq- slaughtering civilians in Haditha and torturing prisoners in Abu Ghraib - the University should be defending students from deceptive and discriminatory military recruiters instead of punishing us for standing up for what is right."

The SFSU Ten are holding a press conference on Monday, June 5, 2006, in order to discuss disciplinary proceedings, the events of April 14 and to present the administration with the petition. You are encouraged to attend.